Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the witnesses for giving their time so freely, which is much appreciated. It is important that we hear different views on this issue. Dr. Mulligan is correct when she says this is complex and that is where those different views are so important to this committee because these are the views of so many other people in our communities and across the State. Nobody has a consensus on this issue and it is up to the Oireachtas committee to tease this out. Dr. Mulligan is also correct when she highlights the need around focusing on whether this should be something that we do, and if we do, who it is going to affect and is there a potential risk to a certain cohort of people, and how we, as legislators, mitigate against that risk?

I want to go back to something Dr. Hickey said at the outset that caught my attention. It was on the three options that we are faced with, that is, we can either maintain thestatus quo, we can legislate for an individual to choose to end their life or we can loosen what is already there. Dr. Hickey made this reference in the context of a litigant not being successful if they were to go to court and in the context of the presumption of constitutionality, and how, when issues are more contentious, the presumption of constitutionality increases. I do not think anybody in this committee wants to see somebody else end up in court. We were all deeply affected by Marie Fleming, and that has left a profound mark. However, from a constitutional perspective, if the Oireachtas were to make a decision to loosen the criteria that are there at the moment, is there a constitutional impact in that regard? We know we have the authority, the permission or the availability to legislate for this or not legislate for this. However, if the committee were to choose a middle ground, are we creating constitutional issues?